The Opelousas courier. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1852-1910, 1887-05-21
Will Farming Pay ?
Fort Worth Gazette.

Fort Worth Gazette.
The Gazette has no disposition to venture
on advice to farmers, for this paper knows
nothing abont farming but it has eyes to see
and ears to hear, and feels inclined always to
express its opinion when it believes that good
NAV result therefrom. The Gazette notices
what other papers. that presume to counsel,
have to say, and from quite mass of "agri
cultural" matter selects the following which
this paper believes offer, in general way,
valuable hint, to some at least, OF the class
they are intended to benefit:
WHAT IS FARMING!
1t is somethin more than staying on IA farm.
IL is something more than skimming the SOIL.
1t is more than selling hay or potatoes and
bulky crops un-animalized. Farming is 6u-
siness, a profession, practical and scientific
operation. The processes Of nature must be
understood, if not in their technical terms and
language, in that sensible undertaking, that
common sense way, that their own advantage
aud capabilities may be turned to the PEST SV
account The lawyer works by law and by
precedent; the physician works by symptoms
aud indications the merchant by rules and
observations; the mechanic by measures ana
capacities The farmer must work by all
rules, laws, observation and experiment. lie
operative and commercial circles in which his
business lies, and his sphere of circulation ex'
tends.
FARMING DON'T PAY.
Scarcely day passes that we do not hear
the above exclamation from one or more hon
est tillers of the soil, and we are estopped by
our observation from denying the assertion
that it does not pay as at present generally
conducted.
Farming don't pay" unless rightly con-
Quoted, nor will manufacturing or any other
kind of business pay, under similar untaVora-
BILE conditions. The farmer must be on the
alert. He must keep his farm in good order,
grade up his stock, feed for the best results,
and endeayor to annually increase his pro-
ducts. Nothing must be wasted, and every
| thing must be judiciously adapted to special
purposes.
pends on the sunny side of straw stack for
warmth for his stock, and the corners of q
| rail fence to break the force of the winds.
"Farming don't pay when the rich black
liauids 1ow off from the barn-yard, and the
plough and harrow ure rnsting, and the lars
| are tnnbliDg to pieces
As the Gazette endeavors, always, to use
| the simplest language for the expression OF
| its opinions, it ventures to say that much OF
| the evil of which some farmers complain arises
| from the lack of " business sense " aud bnSl-
ness methods in the conduct OF their farms
Where the farmer gives to his business the
| same intelligent economy and attention to
def all and methodical surpeFvision that men
| in other yocations do, he makes his farm pay,
aud it is such men who. in every community,
are pointed out as rich farmers" just as a
certain percentage of lawyers, doctors, mer,
| chants, ct al are spoken OF as "successiu'
| men" There are merchants, bankers, law
yers aud doctors who fail to make their busl-
ness profitable for identcally the same cause
that prevents the farm from paying. Perhaps
| there is smaller percentage of failures among
| bankers than among any other class OF men
| and this is due to the fact that banks are
operated on cooperative money, aud the own
4 nj IN ali nn
| who are competent to handle moneymto Sc
| ;ect nltu who "know their business" The ga
gette has been informed that bank will take
a muiilated cent stamp to the postcnce ano
| exchange it for perfect stamp as relglonsiy
as it will de bit u deposition with the amonni
of the check he draws. In all the asta,ls %
the management of banking the same scrupu
lous economy is practiced. But while tht
bauker who ia berated because he is rich
appies the NEST regid methods to MS oust
ness the farmer, who sometimes complains o.
Others for his Msf0rtunss, will too often pay
hundreds of dollars for an improved !mpiemen
and take no more care to preserve 1t from Lht
| weather than if it were impervious to Watel
and heat Riding westward from Fort Wortf
over u railroad in March last one could set
haryesters and reapers and piows standing
ont in fields as if they were no more valuable
than stumps, and doubtless thefe are IN Lar
rant county to-day tens of thousands OF dol
lars worth of such property whose condition
would materially aid agricultural editors il
explaining why farming does not pay.
Somewhere floating around, the Gazett
read This statement: "'Cotton is king, an
YET the poultry product Of the United State
in 1883 was valued at $3.50 900, 900, while tn
cotton crop was valued at only $4l0 ,OO0, ooo
We do not know how much truth there is i
this statement, but it contains valuabl
, hint An old farmer of Denton county one
told the Gazette that he never went to tow
with his wagon without carrying lot OF bu
ter and fowls for sale. Il make 'eln pay III
: expenses" said he. That old man has tow
> lots in Dallas aud San Antonio bought wit
the money be made Oh Texas farm. He ha
Z : ..business sense The Gazette knows netl
ing .lbout farming, but it does know som'
thing about some farmers. and it is SD pr
i, fouully impressed with the general depen'
: ,nce Oh the farm aud the general obligatio
! TO the farmers Of the land that it ventures
speak plainly aud say to tine farmers OF Iexi
' that il is the time to introduce the buslne
. sense OF the bank and Of the store and OF Il
!. Office onto every farm of the State. Aud ti
y Gazette believes that if the same metho'
y were applied to the farm that are applied
the store and to the bank, there would be 10
privatiou, less diseontent and less complai
among those upon whose success all succe
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